Chandeliers with "eyes" and glasses belonging to Napoleon's wife: exploring the new Baccarat collection

After a long hiatus, Baccarat returns to Milan Design Week (Salone del Mobile) with a wry new collection of lighting and decorative objects by British design icon Bethan Laura Wood.

For the French house Baccarat, whose name has been associated with the art of crystal for decades, its participation in the spring Salone del Mobile was its first in several years. The brand had been absent from the Milan schedule for four years. The French company announced its return with a bang, capturing the attention of Design Week attendees. The brand filled the space with a large-scale installation and performance, "Crystal Crypt," and simultaneously unveiled a new futuristic collaboration with British designer Bethan Laura Wood.

The Crystal Crypt installation, named after Philip K. Dick's 1954 novel, is a fully-fledged stage environment created by choreographer and art researcher Emmanuelle Luciani. It blends futuristic sets, video, and dance, surrounded by product design. So, it's the year 5300, and all guests in Milan have entered the space of a crystal crypt of the future. An unexpected interpretation of the House's codes. Baccarat production requires years of training and exceptional precision. For four centuries, the brand has been perfecting and preserving unique techniques of coloring and cutting glass.

But the central premiere of Milan Design Week was the Baccarat collection by the creative and eccentric British designer Bethan Laura Wood. It is built around a reimagining of one of Baccarat's most recognizable pieces—the Zénith chandelier, created in the mid-19th century. The designer chose this particular piece as the starting point for a new series of lighting fixtures. The eccentric Wood literally dissected the chandelier, taking it apart like a child's building block, and reassembling it as an original vertical modular structure.

The new version of the chandelier consists of star-shaped metal supports suspended by steel cables. They appear to float in mid-air. Crystal elements of various shapes and shades are suspended at different levels. From a distance, it even seems as if this Baccarat chandelier has acquired several pairs of eyes, observing everything in the room with great interest. The composition combines the signature clear crystal in various shades: olive, violet, turquoise, and amber. In place of a classic ceiling rose, the designer used a round mirror panel. Through reflections, the structure conveys a perpetual upward movement, as if a funnel of light or portal has opened in the ceiling. According to Wood, it was important to her to preserve the baroque language of the Zénith but translate it into a more abstract form. It is a fusion of styles and techniques—both Venetian and industrial.

The chandelier is available as a single piece or in a tiered configuration with a cascading effect. The number of modules can be varied, from a more intimate fixture to a grand interior focal point. The collection is complemented by wall sconces with the same mirrored base and signature faceted details, as well as a series of candlesticks with crystal flowers and petals on pink metal bases. Even in these small pieces, Bethan Laura Wood retains her signature approach: a blend of decorative freedom, vibrant color, and respect for the brand's archival codes.

In addition to its signature series, Baccarat also presented new interpretations of the oldest Harcourt 1841 line—the legendary scallop-shaped glasses first created for Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie.